Two Died, One Suffered a Stroke: The Tragic Stories of Five Lauberhorn Heroes

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On January 15, 1984, Steven Lee delivered the most exotic punch line in Lauberhorn history. At the time, the son of a Sydney police officer came sixth, along with superstar Pirmin Zurbriggen. Lee, who celebrated his only World Cup victory at the Super-G in Furano (Japan) a year later together with Daniel Mahrer from Chur, is so far the only Australian to score World Cup points on the longest downhill in the world. The former Alpine sensation has been in need of care for a few years. Lee suffered a stroke in September 2020. Since then, the right side of the now 61-year-old’s body has been paralyzed and he also has great difficulty speaking. “Steven is mentally there. But when I spoke to him on the phone a few months ago, I could sometimes barely hear him,” says coaching legend Jan Tischhauser (73). The Zurich Oberlander trained Lee for years. Tischhauser knows that Lee was able to work again last winter despite his disabilities. skiing. “He rode down a small slope in Australia with the support of two people.”

The Valaisian was the epitome of a serious downhill skier. Even during the celebrations after his victory on the Lauberhorn in 1994, William Besse hardly drank alcohol. However, his liver was severely damaged in 2008. “I actually felt really good then. Having recently celebrated my 40th birthday, the time had come for me to undergo an intensive medical check-up. And an autoimmune disease was discovered.” In the first years after his diagnosis, the four-time World Cup winner was able to cope with everyday life without major problems and worked, among other things, as a ski expert for television in Western Switzerland. But starting in 2020, his condition deteriorated dramatically. Besse realized that only an organ transplant could save him. On December 13, Justin Murisier’s cousin (32) received a donor liver in Geneva. Besse knows that he has been very lucky: “In Switzerland, around 150 people die every year because they cannot get a suitable organ. And I’m sure I wouldn’t be alive today if I hadn’t gotten a new liver.” And what is his quality of life today? “I still need a little more recovery time than before, but I’m doing better. I can now ski again without any problems.”

Andreas Schifferer experienced the heyday of his career in the 1997/98 season. That winter, the descendants of a teaching couple also won the downhill general classification after winning the Lauberhorn. But in 2003, Schifferer completely changed his daily life when he met the energy expert Martin Weber. The Salzburger saw the reincarnation of Jesus in Weber and from that moment on he did everything his ‘shepherd’ asked of him. Schifferer separated from his partner, broke off contact with his daughter, started talking to trees and slept in straw. Weber died in 2019. According to his former racing colleagues, things are “not going well at all” for the now 49-year-old skipper.

When Bill Johnson achieved his first World Cup success on the Lauberhorn in 1984, he was disparagingly described as a “nose picker” by Austrian alpine skiing emperor Franz Klemm. “Bill was not a good skier technically; he could barely make a turn,” Klemm said later. Nevertheless, just a few weeks after the surprising coup in Wengen, this ‘nose picker’ also became Olympic downhill champion in Sarajevo and recorded two more World Cup victories in Aspen and Whistler. But then things went downhill for the American. After being fired from the US team in 1988 for poor performance, he kept himself afloat with odd jobs. In 1992 his son drowned. After divorcing his wife, Johnson made his addiction and money problems public. In 2001, Johnson’s comeback dream was also ruined: while training for the US Downhill Championships, he suffered such a severe traumatic brain injury that he had to be cared for by his mother from then on. After suffering a stroke in 2011, Johnson’s organs were attacked by an infection. The tragic Lauberhorn and Olympic hero died in 2016 at the age of 56.

In the winter of 1985/86, Rok Petrovic was in slalom what Marco Odermatt is today in giants: almost invincible. The Slovenian won five of the seven competitions during this period. In Wengen he won with a lead of 1.23 seconds over the Frenchman Didier Bouvet. In 1993, the exceptional talent was taken from him at the age of 33. Petrovic drowned while diving on the Croatian island of Korcula.

Source : Blick